Combat Statistics
Combat Statistics Like any RPG (tabletop or otherwise) there are statistics that govern the combat capabilities of the characters that go into battle. In the case of FLC, these are your Pokemon (though Trainers can make an occasional appearance). Pokemon Statistics Every Pokemon has a set of numerical statistics (stats) that describe the amount of capability that they have in a certain area of combat. The different stats have been covered loosely earlier. Here they will be defined very specifically. The stats are: *Hit Points (HP): The stat that shows the Pokemon’s general health. When a Pokemon has a lot of HP, they are healthy. When they have low HP, they are injured and weary. Just like in the game, being attacked reduces the Pokemon’s Hit Points. A Pokemon has a maximum number of HP that raises when they gain levels. Being reduced to 0 HP results in Pokemon being “downed”. This will be covered in detail later. *Attack (AT): This stat refers to the Pokemon’s physical strength. Attacks that use this stat are referred to as physical attacks, and they relate to punching, kicking, throwing, biting, hurling some substance, or harming in a physical way. Moves that use the Attack stat can be identified in the various reference sources with the icon of a red background with an orange “hit” symbol. Most physical attacks moves require the user to be directly adjacent to their target, but some allow the user to be up to 2 squares (on the battle grid) away. For every 25 in a Pokemon’s AT stat, they get the use of an additional d4 of damage when using a physical attack move. For instance, Franz the Rattata has 77 AT. He uses Tackle, which uses the AT stat. In addition to the power of the move Tackle, Franz will also roll 3 additional d4’s from his AT stat of 77 (25, 50, and 75). *Defense (DF): This refers to the physical resilience of the Pokemon. A Pokemon’s DF stat helps protect them from physical assault. A creature with a high DF stat will sometimes avoid physical damage entirely, based on its imperviousness. For every 50 in a Pokemon’s DF stat, they get +1 to their Base Hit Target. Hit Target will be covered in depth later, but the basis is that every Pokemon will fail an attack if they roll a 1 on their d20 attack roll. With a Pokemon’s DF stat raised, it makes physical attacks targeting it that roll a 2 (Base of 1 + DF Bonus: 1) on their attack roll fail as well. This collection of +1s per every 50 in the stat is called the Defense Bonus. This will be covered in the section "Targeting and the Attack Roll". (The term Defense Bonus can refer to either the DF or SD stat. Each Pokemon will have a Bonus for each stat.) For instance, Doris the Steelix has a DF stat of 165. Her Base Hit Target is +3 (50, 100, and 150), meaning that she adds 3 to the 1 that will always fail, and she has a Base Hit Target of 4. Franz the Rattata uses Tackle, a physical AT move, against her. He rolls a 4 on his d20 attack roll. This is not enough to get through Doris’ DF stat. Doris has enough Defense to repel Franz’ attack, protecting her from damage. *Special Attack (SA): Special Attacks refer to attacks that use energy beams, pulses of heat, or surges of electricity or water to hurt opponents. The SA stat works identically to the AT stat, only for special based moves. These moves have an icon with a dark grayish-blue background and two concentric white circles. Special Attack moves generally have a range of up to 2 squares away. Just like the AT stat, every 25 in a Pokemon SA gives them another d4 of extra damage when using special attack moves. For example, Thomas the Kadabra uses Confusion, a special based Psychic attack, against Kylie the Vanillite. He rolls his d20 attack roll, and he is successful. With his SA stat of 190, Thomas gets 7d4 of damage in addition to the power of the move Confusion. (25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, and 175) *Special Defense (SD): A Pokemon’s Special Defense stat relates to their ability at deflecting or withstanding beams of energy and the like. The SD stat works the same way as the DF stat, only relating to special attacks instead of physical ones. For every 50 in a Pokemon’s SD, they gain +1 to their Base Hit Target from special attacks. For instance, Thomas the Kadabra targets Kylie the Vanillite once again. He is using the Psychic move Confusion, a special attack. Kylie’s SD stat is 104, so she has a Base Hit Target +2 (50 and 100), added to the roll of 1 that will always fail. Thus, Kylie has a Base Hit Target of 3 when targeted by special attacks. Thomas rolls a 2 on his d20 attack check. That is within Kylie’s Base Hit Target, so she avoids the attack. Kylie reflects light off her body, skewing Thomas’ sight when he launches the attack, and the aura of Confusion misses her. *Speed (SP): A Pokemon’s Speed stat serves two purposes. Foremost, it denotes when in the round of battle the Pokemon will take their action. Pokemon with high SP stats move before Pokemon with low SP. Second, the SP stat also shows how far a Pokemon can move in battle. For every 50 SP, a Pokemon can move one additional square across the battlefield. This will be elaborated on in the “Battle Actions” section. To show the use of Pokemon stats, an anecdotal example: the Rattata and Thomas the Kadabra are fighting Doris the Steelix and Kylie the Vanillite. Thomas has a SP of 130, so he moves first. He uses Confusion on Kylie. Attack roll: Success. With Thomas’ SA stat, he rolls 7d4 in addition to the attack power of Confusion. He deals damage to Kylie and she loses HP. The next highest SP stat is 105, on Franz. Franz uses Tackle on Doris. Attack roll: Franz rolls a 4, Doris’ Base Hit Target for her DF is 4. Failure. Doris withstands the attack, taking no damage. The next Highest SP stat is Kylie, with 91. Kylie uses Avalanche, a physical move, against Thomas. Attack roll: Success. Kylie has an AT of 99, so she uses 3d4 in addition to the attack power of Avalanche. Damage is dealt to Thomas and he lose HP. The lowest SP stat is on Doris, with 75. Doris uses the physical attack Rock Throw to attack Franz. Attack roll: Success. Doris has an AT stat of 106. She rolls 4d4 in addition to Rock Throw’s attack power. Damage is dealt to Franz and he loses HP. Pokemon stats are an important part of the game, as they help determine the playstyle of that particular Pokemon. A high Pokemon with a high AT stat but a low SA stat will want to jump into the middle of a fight, instead of hanging back at the edges. Likewise, a Pokemon with low DF and high SA will want to stay back and work at the rear of the group. A Pokemon high SP may want to take the offensive before an opponent can act, instead of waiting for them to have a chance to hurt the trainers’ team. Pokemon Moves In FLC, there are 3 different kinds of moves, just like in the Pokemon games. They are split into physical attacks, special attacks, and status moves. As mentioned, physical moves utilize a Pokemon’s AT stat to determine the amount of damage the Pokemon can deal. Special moves use the SA stat to determine damage. The third kind of move, Status moves, can be identified in reference sources by a gray background with a white image of a circle with two halves swirling together. Status moves are unique in that they do not require a d20 attack roll check. They affect the Pokemon present in particular ways. These could include boons, such as bonus damage, or restoration of HP. They could also include afflictions such as loss of bonus damage dice, status ailments, or impediments on the battlefield. Every Pokemon has a unique move set. This is true in both the video games and in FLC. In the reference guide apps, websites, or books, each Pokemon’s move set can be viewed. In each of these, the moves that the Pokemon attains as well as the level of which they are accessible is given. In FLC, once a Pokemon has attained the necessary level for it, they unlock the use of move. These moves are the Pokemon’s options in battle. For example, Jerry the Shinx is Level 4. In Shinx’s move set, it says that at “Start”, it has the move Tackle available. There are no other moves available until Level 5. So Jerry uses Tackle on his foes until he levels up, becoming Level 5. In the move set, the move “Leer” becomes accessible at Level 5, so Jerry gains the use of it. At Level 9, the next move, “Charge” becomes available to him. In the video games of Pokemon, after a creature has 4 moves, if the player wants them to be able to do something else, they must “forget” one of their moves to be able to perform this new action. In FLC, this restriction is less strict. For every 10 levels a Pokemon gains, they get another move slot. This means that at Level 10, a Pokemon can keep 5 different moves. At Level 20, they can keep 6 moves, and et cetera up to a maximum of 8 moves at level 40. The specifics of this can be seen in the FLC Rules Master text. Additionally, to promote player freedom, upon a Pokemon leveling up, the trainer can choose for them to relearn a move in their move set that they have replaced. Essentially, if a player chooses to, when their Pokemon levels up, they can reconfigure any or all of the Pokemon’s available moves. In this case of Pokemon who are evolved, occasionally, lower stages of evolution have access to certain moves that higher stages do not. In FLC, as long as the higher stage evolution of Pokemon has achieved the requisite level that would have been required for the lower stage of evolution, the current evolutionary form of the Pokemon can access the move. For example, Shiera the Glaceon is Level 35. In Glaceon’s move set, at Level 36, the move Ice Shard becomes available. In Shiera’s pre-evolved form, an Eevee, the move Baton Pass is also available at 36. So when Shiera moves up to Level 36, she gains access to both Ice Shard and Baton Pass and can put both, either, or neither in her available move slots. (If you’ve been paying attention, you can determine which of these is probable. Shiera has a total of 7 move slots, having 4 at the start, plus 3 more from being Level 30. If you look at Glaceon’s stats, you can see that Shiera has high SA, so the move Icy Wind, a Special move, should be present. There are also 3-4 status moves she has available that hinder the enemy or help her team. It is likely that Shiera utilizes these moves to affect the sway of the battle. This leaves two move slots open to be changed around. The move Quick Attack will probably be replaced with the similar Ice Shard, despite Shiera’s somewhat low AT. And the last slot will be filled with Baton Pass, a status move that fits Shiera’s playstyle of helping her teammates.) The exception to the rule of learning moves from pre-evolved forms is if the lower form has access to a move that the higher level does as well. If the lower stage of evolution can use the move at a lower level than the higher stage, the necessary level of the higher stage is required. For example, Combusken learns the move Flare Blitz at Level 54. Its evolved form, Blaziken, learns the same move at Level 66. If the Pokemon turns into a Blaziken, they must wait until 66 to use Flare Blitz. In battle, Pokemon use the moves that they have in their move slots to fight their opponents, just like in the games. The specifics of every attack can be seen in the numerous reference sources, but the way that they translate to FLC can be seen here. In the Pokemon games, every attack has an attack power. This is a general sense of how strong of an attack the move is. A weak attack will have an attack power of 40, an absurdly strong attack will have an attack power of 200. In FLC, the attack power translates to the specific die or dice rolled for the attack. This is used in combination with the respective attack stat of the Pokemon using the move to determine the damage being done to the Pokemon’s target. The following chart shows the translation of the attack power seen in reference sources into FLC dice (notably, if you use an online dice roller, just use 1dPower/10, unless that yields a decimal). *Power <20, 20, 25 = 1d2 *Power 30 = 1d3 *Power 35, 40 = 1d4 *Power 50 = 1d5 *Power 55, 60, 65 = 1d6 *Power 70 = 1d7 *Power 75, 80, 85 = 1d8 *Power 90, 95, 100 = 1d10 *Power 120 = 1d12 *Power 130 = 1d10+1d3 *Power 150 = 1d10+1d5 *Power 180 = 1d10+1d8 *Power 200 = 1d20 *Power 250 = 1d20+1d5 In addition to the damage they deal, many moves have additional effects that they can produce. As an example, the move ThunderShock has a 10% chance to paralyze the target. With moves that have a percentage chance to produce an effect, roll a d10. If the move has a 10% chance, only one designated side of the die will produce the effect. On a 30% chance, 3 sides will produce the effect, and so forth. Every move that has additional effects will say so in the descriptive text of the move. More specific FLC variations of these descriptors can be found in the FLC Rules Master text. Looking back to the battle between Thomas the Kadabra and Kylie the Vanillite, Thomas uses the move Confusion on Kylie. Confusion has an attack power of 50. Thus, Thomas uses a d5 for the power of Confusion. Thomas then adds d4’s corresponding to his appropriate attack stat. Confusion, as you remember, is a special attack, so it uses Thomas’ SA stat to determine damage dice. With 190 SA, how many d4’s does Thomas use for damage? (The answer is still 7). Thus, Thomas’ damage roll, will consist of 1d5 +7d4, a range from 5 to 33 points of damage. The move Confusion also has a 10% chance to confuse the target, so Thomas would roll a d10 to check to see if Kylie becomes confused after she loses HP equal to the damage Thomas’ attack did to her. Fatigue Points Every move in FLC costs Fatigue Points for Pokemon to use in battle. Fatigue Points (FP) are FLC’s version of the Pokemon games “PP”. In the video games, each move is designated a certain amount of PP, from 5 to 40, that tells the player how many times the Pokemon can use this skill before they must return to a healing center to recharge. This system is to keep more powerful moves from being used too frequently. In FLC, to match the feel of a real battle, moves instead cost FP. A Pokemon has a total FP number that is relegated to their Level. Pokemon begin at Level 1 with 10 FP. As Pokemon level up, they gain more Fatigue Points. Every 3 Levels, the Pokemon’s total FP goes up 2 points. The specifics of this can be seen in the FLC Rules Master text. When a move is used, the player subtracts the number of FP that the move costs from the Pokemon’s total FP. In each of the reference sources, every move’s PP cost can be seen. These costs translate into FP costs, which can be seen below. *40-35 PP = 1 FP *30 PP = 2 FP *25 PP = 3 FP *20 PP = 4 FP *15 PP = 5 FP *10 PP = 6 FP *5 PP = 7 FP As the chart shows, the lower the PP total, the higher the FP usage. Moves that cost 1 FP can be used with less concern than moves that cost 7 FP. A Pokemon cannot use a move if it requires more FP than the Pokemon currently has. Each usage of a move depletes from the Pokemon’s total FP, and if that total reaches 0 FP, the Pokemon is too tired to act. There are several solutions to this. If a trainer chooses to, they can have the Pokemon rest. This recovers the Pokemon’s FP a certain amount, depending on the length of time. *1 turn of rest = 1d4 of FP returned *2 turns of rest = 50% FP returned *4 turns of rest = 100% FP returned As you can see, the Pokemon must forfeit at least one of their turns to rest. If a Pokemon’s total FP falls to 0, that Pokemon collapses and must rest for at least two turns. Once this has passed, the Pokemon is free to continue fighting. As an example, let's return to Doris the Steelix. Doris is Level 25, so she has 26 total FP. She targets Franz the Rattata with the move Rock Throw. Rock Throw is a physical Rock move that has a total of 15 PP in the Pokemon video games. This becomes a 5 FP move in FLC, so when Doris uses the move Rock Throw, she subtracts 5 FP from her total of 26, leaving her with 21 FP in her next turn. FP is subtracted regardless of whether the move is successful or not, because the User Pokemon still attempted the attack or action. Category:Combat